INTERVIEW WITH SEAN CALLERY

Fox's
television-series-turned-cultural-phenomenon,
"24," began airing some 13
years ago and with each tick
of the proverbial and
practical clock, with each
twist, turn and double-turn
experienced by Jack Bauer
and his covert cohorts was
the music of composer SEAN
CALLERY. Richard
Buxton chats with the
composer about the legacy
and challenges of "24,"
and his return to the
franchise with 24: LIVE
ANOTHER DAY.

RB -
How does it feel to be back
working on 24 with Live
Another Day?

SC - It's wonderful to be
back. I was curious, after
having written the last
score for "24" over 3 years
ago, how it would be fitting
back into the series. For
me, and for many of my
colleagues, it felt as
natural as ever. We picked
up where we left off, and
continue to work at making
each episode as great as
possible.

RB - You initially worked
with creators Joel Surnow
and Robert Cochran, and
director Jon Cassar on La
Femme Nikita before joining
them on 24 and now Live
Another Day. What is the
dynamic like between you and
the show’s producers and
directors?

SC - Over the years we have
developed this intuitive
synergy with one another and
it has evolved into a great
collaboration that also grew
into great friendships.
These are very talented
people, and I am very lucky
to be working among them.
With Joel and Jon, we went
on to do “The Kennedys”
together. Recently I scored
a film for Joel Surnow
called “Small Time,” which
came out last month,
starring Chris Meloni and
Dean Norris.

RB - What was it about 24
that attracted you to the
show?

SC - I was just starting
out, so I suppose I was most
attracted to the notion of
just having a job! I began
work on the series 13 years
ago, with just a couple of
projects under my belt, and
I was just grateful to have
a job scoring and composing
for anything. When Joel
asked me to do "24", he had
to really fight for me
because 20th Century Fox and
Imagine really didn't know
much about me. I'm very
grateful to him for standing
by me like that. As far as
the “24” story was
concerned, I was completely
hooked from the very first
few pages of the pilot
script. When early footage
started coming in with the
boxes and the ticking
clocks, I remember thinking
this was something very bold
and very special.

RB - What are the greatest
challenges when composing
for a show set in
“real-time”?

SC - The series grew into
having quite a bit of
underscore. It's almost
non-stop, and the challenge
with the longer music cues
on this series was to be
able to keep it interesting
and arcing properly with the
drama, without getting
fatiguing in any way.

RB - How long did it take
for you to compose 24’s main
theme?

SC - I think it took me a
few days of playing around
with the theme at my piano
before I arrived at what you
hear now. I hadn't seen any
of the picture yet. I was
writing it based on having
read the pilot script. I
have this old Yamaha
Disklavier (it still uses
floppy disks) - and it
records what you play on the
keyboard and plays it back
just like a player piano. I
would record various ideas
plunking around on the
keyboard. It's kind of funny
to watch the piano play back
the various recordings I
made; it's like an invisible
person is sitting at the
piano and you can hear how I
was tentatively swimming
around for the melody like a
cat walking on piano keys.

RB - When originally
conceived, how important
were the various sound
effects such as those for
the opening 24 logo, the
ticking-clock, and the
split-screen sequences, and
did you have any idea that
they would become so iconic?

SC - I did think that the
boxes were pretty special
the first time I saw them.
The ticking clock sound -
which I did not create - is
a great framing device for
connecting us over and over
to the real time format of
the series. The random
appearances of the digital
clock throughout the episode
is very effective too. I had
no idea how iconic it would
become. I don't think anyone
knew. We were just focused
on making a good show week
to week, hoping it would get
renewed.

RB - What do you consider to
the be the lifeblood of 24’s
music - is it Jack Bauer as
the protagonist, the
breakneck pace of the show,
or something else entirely?

SC - It's hard for me to pin
down a precise answer to
that. From its origin, the
show has always been infused
with a frenetic, urgent pace
and tension, depicting a
day-in-the-life of a man who
faced down extraordinary
circumstances. Fans of the
show speak often of the fun
ride they have with that.
Year to year however, our
protagonist Jack Bauer has
evolved and changed. He has
paid dearly for the
sacrifices he has made for
his family and for his
country. I have aspired for
the music to evolve in that
journey as well. He is not
the same man he was 13 years
ago, and while he is still
surrounded by life and death
circumstances with
tremendous tension and
pressure, Bauer's personal
evolution is at the center
of it all and that affects
how he interacts with the
world around him. He is the
emotional core, so to speak,
so it all kind of links
together.

RB - Jack Bauer has had to
endure a lot in the name of
national security, but
unlike many heroes that have
come before, he’s not afraid
to make a mess. How have you
communicated such a
character through your
music?

SC - I've never been asked
this before and it's a great
question. One appealing
characteristic about Jack
Bauer is that once he has
made a decision about
something, he is laser
focused on that objective.
He doesn't stop until he
succeeds. There is that
forcefulness and
determination that Kiefer
exudes so well in these
moments. On some action
sequences in past seasons,
that single-minded focus has
manifested itself musically
via very unwavering rhythms,
beats, or held textures /
sonorities that do not let
up, regardless of what
obstacles get in his way.
The notion is that nothing
is stopping him, and the
music isn't stopping either.
I do not always take this
approach; much depends on
the tone of the scene and
the storyline.

RB - There’s an emphasis on
electronics in the show’s
music. What advantages do
you think electronics
provide that live
instruments cannot?

SC - From the earliest
seasons, Executive Producer
Joel Surnow was a huge fan
of sound design and
experimentation. I don't see
it so much as there being an
advantage / disadvantage
kind of thing. It's more
like the vocabulary is being
expanded. There are more
musical tools to choose
from, experiment with and be
creative with.

RB - Are there any
significant differences in
the way you have approached
composing Live Another Day
compared to the original
series?

SC - Fundamentally, no. The
12 episode format however,
has yielded some neat
surprises. For one, the
action is much more
concentrated episode to
episode. There is so much
going on in these episodes
each week! It's a great
ride.

RB - 24: Live Another Day
has moved the show across
the Atlantic from the US to
London. Is the new location
reflected in the music?

SC - I'm not making any
conscious or intentional
choices to have the music be
different because we are in
London. Having said that,
seeing Jack running around
London is very cool because
it's so fresh looking, and
the new locale exudes a
different kind of energy.
I'm following my instincts
based on what I'm seeing and
feeling, as I would do in
years past, and the hope is
that the score continues to
evolve in a natural way.

RB - Other than the main
theme, can we expect to hear
any thematic references to
music heard in previous
seasons of 24?

SC - There are lesser known
themes that spoke to the
notion of personal sacrifice
as the series went on. These
ideas continue to play out
in “24: Live Another Day,”
and I have found myself
arriving back at these
themes. This was something I
did not plan, but it works
so well for how the story is
unfolding.

RB - Live Another Day
extends the life of what was
already the longest-running
espionage television series.
How do you go about keeping
the music of 24 fresh when
you’ve had to compose so
much of it?

SC - I have asked that same
kind of question to director
Jon Cassar. He has directed
Kiefer in so many scenes
where Jack enters a dark
room or a hallway with a gun
drawn, and you are just as
tense and dialed into that
moment as you were 8 seasons
ago when you first saw a
moment like that. I asked
Jon why it still feels so
fresh after all these years.
He didn't have a clear cut
answer. I don't have a clear
cut answer either, but I
think it lies in the idea
that everyone's commitment
to keeping true to the
show's spirit and its energy
is so ironclad. Each episode
has its own feel, its own
flow, and I think everyone
working on the show, from
the writers to the actors on
down, aspire to remain fresh
and true to each moment.

RB - Do you expect to
release a commercial score
of 24: Live Another Day?

SC - I would very much like
to. I have heard from some
fans requesting music from
Seasons 6-8. I am trying to
get it all done.

RB - It has been almost 13
years since the premiere of
24. Are there any moments in
the show’s lifetime that
especially stand out for
you, both from a musical and
collaborative perspective?

SC - There are several, but
one pops up. It happened in
Season 2. It is in the
middle of the night, and
Jack volunteers to sacrifice
his life by flying a small
plane with a ticking nuclear
bomb onboard into the Mojave
Desert, and crashing it into
an unpopulated area. Along
the way, he discovered the
head of CTU, George Mason
(played by the great Xander
Berkeley) stowed away. Mason
was exposed to a fatal dose
of radiation in the first
two hours of the season, and
is near certain death from
radiation poisoning. He
convinces Jack, who is still
mourning the loss of his
wife, to embrace his life
again, and let Mason steer
the plane into the ground
instead.

There is this beautiful
sequence that follows where
Jack parachutes out of the
plane as Mason plunges the
plane downward. Ian
Toynton's direction is
simply masterful, shot so
beautifully as Jack floats
down silently towards the
desert landscape. There is
no dialog, just imagery.
There is palpable relief and
catharsis in this extended
sequence, as Jack lands
safely while Mason
sacrifices himself and
crashes the plane at a safe
distance, saving thousands
of lives in the process. A
beautiful moment in the
series.

You
can find out more about
Sean Callery and his
current projects at his
OFFICIAL SITE